Dominic Sanchez, Manager, Federal Affairs, Grubhub
Each year, millions of pounds of America’s fresh food goes to waste – even as nearly 34 million Americans continue to live in food insecure households. As a leading national food ordering and delivery marketplace, Grubhub understands the urgent need to close America’s hunger gap.
That’s why we are partnering with the Alliance to End Hunger to double down on our efforts and work toward change at the federal level. Working in tandem with the Alliance, we’ll look for additional ways to bring our restaurant partners – most critically, small and independently owned businesses – into the fight against food insecurity. We’ll think through how to use technology to fill holes in this fight that the government and nonprofits cannot. And we’ll advocate directly in Washington for sensible policies in the upcoming Farm Bill, and beyond, that will reduce food insecurity by removing barriers to federal nutrition programs, support local producers and food systems, and ensure that all individuals have access to healthy nutritious food.
Grubhub has a history of fighting to strengthen food laws, including most recently for the Food Donation Improvement Act (FDIA), which makes it easier for businesses of all sizes – including the independent restaurants we partner with – to donate their excess food and fight waste. Prior to passage of the FDIA in December, Grubhub spent years making our voice heard on Capitol Hill. We met with more than 50 Congressional offices on both sides of the aisle to build support and secure co-sponsors.
At the philanthropic level, we’ve continued to pursue partnerships and initiatives focused on helping to close the hunger gap across the country. We’ve supported organizations like Rescuing Leftover Cuisine and MEANS Database; two organizations focused on food rescue programs that secure surplus food from restaurants in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York City, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland, Providence, and San Francisco. And in June 2022, we launched our Serving the City program in New York, partnering directly with local restaurants to deliver tens of thousands of meals to families and individuals in housing authorities, senior centers and veterans’ restaurants across the city. We’re now expanding Serving the City to Chicago and beyond.
We’ve made progress in the fight against food insecurity, but there’s more work to do. Grubhub looks forward to advocating alongside the Alliance to End Hunger in the years ahead.
